GRAHAM-CASSIDY PULLED FROM CONSIDERATION
Earlier this week, the latest effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as the Graham-Cassidy bill, was pulled from consideration after the Republican leadership in the Senate determined that there were not enough votes to pass it. This was after a CBO report showed that Graham-Cassidy would result in millions losing health coverage. To read more about the CBO report, check out our news item.
AAHD opposed the Graham-Cassidy bill and would like to thank all of you who advocated for Congress to reject it. There’s still a chance that the Graham-Cassidy bill or something similar could be brought up again in this next fiscal year, so if you want to learn more about it, check out our blog post where we provide details on the bill and some of the main concerns we had with it. The blog post also has links to statements from other organizations which opposed Graham-Cassidy.
Last November after the election, we released a statement on health reform which includes the provisions of the ACA which we believe are vital to people with disabilities. In the statement entitled “Preserve the Protections Provided by the Affordable Care Act,” we call on Congress and the Administration to protect provisions in the ACA which have benefited people with disabilities.
In its assister newsletter this week, CMS announced that there would be planned website outages of Healthcare.gov in order to do maintenance to the website. To read more about these outages, check out our news item.
For more on these outages and the failure of Graham-Cassidy, check out this blog post on Health Affairs.
The University of Washington – Healthy Aging Rehabilitation Research Training Center (RRTC) along with the National Council on Aging (NCOA) is hosting a three-day webinar series led by experts in the field of aging and disability on October 16, 18 & 20. Learn about recent research advances in key areas, including long-term services and supports, community access and autonomy, and healthcare policy changes for people aging with disabilities. Check the NCOA website for more information.
Are you looking for local partners to help with outreach to the disability community? The NDNRC has Community Outreach Collaboratives (COCs) which work to increase collaborations in the community, dissemination and outreach efforts and enrollment of people with disabilities in the ACA marketplace. You can find a COC, on the COC page of our website.
Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.